The junta will be the architects of their demise...and then they will need to have another coup further down the line (anyone who think the last one will be the last one is nuts). It seems pretty obvious that they are all above the law along with all their cronies and it never ends well when you have that situation.

Edit - Typos

Last edited by Spitfire on Thu Jan 25, 2018 5:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Don't read beauty magazines...they will only make you feel ugly - Baz Lerman

But as per their self designed constitution, even after an election the army remains in control via their appointed representatives. Anything the elected government proposes can be overturned. 'Thai style democracy!'

Last night I was out and spoke about this with a number of Thais I know, including bar staff/owners, none of them seemed interested at all if it was delayed or never happened.

I suspect there are many more people imprisoned or have had 'adjustment training' for daring to upset this Govt. even if they did nothing, than whoever you spoke with last night. Why don't you go and have a chat with them and see how they feel about things?

And as has been said before, this isn't the sort of thing Thais will talk openly about, esepcially to a farang acquaintance. Thailand has it's very own 'stasi' acting as the eyes and ears of the junta, so you will have to know Thais very well and probably be somewhere completely private before they will open up. That's my experience anyway.

Thailand’s election delays widely criticised
THAILAND’S long and winding return to democracy has been further delayed following the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) decision to change Section 2 of the MP election bill, with elections now expected to take place in early 2019.

The decision to push back elections has been widely criticised by the international community, human rights groups and Thailand’s leading political parties. Shortly after the 2014 coup, which brought General Prayut and the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to power, the public were told that Thailand would return to democracy the following year.

Then, in February 2015, Prime Minister Prayut explained that the elections would instead be held in early in 2016. In 2016, he informed the United Nations General Assembly that democratic elections would be postponed until 2017. Another year passed and with it came another postponement.

While in Washington in 2017, Prayut assured the international community that elections would take place in 2018. That date has now been pushed back to early 2019, placing the General among the country’s longest serving Prime Ministers.

"On Monday, an aide to junta deputy Prawit Wongsuwan, said the pro-democracy campaign was orchestrated by foreign powers. Paisal Puechmongkol said on his self-maintained fan page that they were the result of “trickery by foreign powers” as in Iran and Hong Kong. He posted his comments along with a photo of an actor portraying an ancient Chinese military strategist."

Prayut appeals for more time at the helm
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has appealed to the public to let him stay on in power to "continue laying the foundations for the country", though he gave no indication of how long he intends to remain at the helm.

He urged the public not to lose hope in him or his government. Speaking to reporters after Tuesday's cabinet meeting, Gen Prayut said the government hopes to lay a firm foundation for the country's future prosperity but it is up to future administrations to decide how to carry the torch.

"Give me some more time to lay a solid foundation," he said, adding the time needed "depends on the law".

On the topic of the difficulty in knowing what the Thai people feel about the situation (Assuming that they think about it at all) Those of us who have lived in China find that it is 180 degrees different, Chinese people will talk endlessly about Chinese history and in spite of the fact that the government is dictatorial they will criticise the government quite savagely in private conversations. The inter-action of National, provincial and city governments is discussed at length and the corruption in government is openly discussed. Here in Thailand, there seems to be an apathy, an acceptance, a distinct lack of interest.